O/D Blinking Light of Death

[Guy Peterson]

120K and all of a sudden the tranny appears to be slipping between 2nd and 3rd. The Blinking Light of Death, as so coined here, may very well likely be its fate. If its just the solenoid failure how much more life should i even expect out of this tranny given what I have seen. If a 500-800 fix only gets me a year are these cost allready built into a complete rebuild? Can these trannies be rebuilt with some more stout to them or is it just a pipe dream to expect them to be driven on the hard side?

 

[Ben Poche]

has the trany been flushed if not do so asap and you can adjust the epc pressure see project

 

[Chris Kulbaba]

You HAVE to take care of it NOW.... I cant stress that enuff, if you continue to drive it like that you will end up like me and need the rebuild.

 

[shawn stonbraker 2]

I see you have a 2001. There has been upgrades to the selinoids and shift packs on the newer ('03 and up). Yours could still have the old style in it. When was the last time you had the fluid changed? do you have the "blinking light of death" or are you saying that you think that's next? If you don't, get it flushed or change out the filter and do the EPC adjustment. What I did was put the drainplug in and now I change the fluid out every time I do my engine oil. Easy to do. I know it seems overkill but I haven't had any problems with mine yet (knock on wood) and figure it keeps the fluid pretty new so I don't have to do the flushes. Also, only cost about $5 more every oil change.

 

[Richard L]

If you have not encountered much if any slippage before the O/D light started blinking, you may get by with just having a new valvebody and solenoid pack installed. However if the O/D light has been blinking for a while or blinked for a while then stopped, it indicates the slipping has gotten bad enough for the sensor to detect it. That usually requires a complete rebuild of the transmission.



The biggest thing you cand do to save a 5R55E transmission is to have the fluid flushed early and often. Also, I recommend converting from the normal semi-synthetic Mercon-V to a 100% synthetic Mercon-V fluid. If you also make a very slight adjustment to the EPC it will increase the transmissions line pressure and give a more positive shift than stock.



...Rich

 

[Kerry Matthews]

I third the motion of having your tranny checked NOW!!! My O/D light started flashing, and I took it to the dealer the next day. We had it into the shop the following day, and the tech said that had I waited any longer I would have needed a complete rebuild. As it was, the solenoid needed to be replaced... $925. Better than the $3k for a rebuild!! So speed is of the essence here. Get it in now...

 

[Josh OH]

Now this has me curious... I've had my 05' ST for over a year now with 15,000 miles on it. What should I do with the tranny right now to prevent this type of situation happening to me? I haven't had it flushed or anything yet...

 

[shawn stonbraker 2]

Josh, put in the drain plug. Then do what I do. Every oil change or every other oil change, change out the 4 quarts in there and it will keep your tranny fluid on the fresh side. It's a fairly easy thing to do. I got a bunch of rubber o-rings from a hardware store so every time I take the plug out I change it also. Very low cost. I used the ATF fluid from walmart the last two times ($2.09 a quart) and it works fine. It says on the front that it is compatable to Mercron V and all other tranny fluids for newer cars.

 

[Josh OH]

Cool. And thanks for the help, but what and where is the drain plug that I need to put in? (Not very smart in tranmissions)

 

[Eldon Webb]

What a great idea. I just changed the fluid on my 01 job2 for the first time at 60K. I got a plug kit from Bumper to Bumper & installed it too. I darn sure will drain and refill every oil change from now on.

 

[Guy Peterson]

Thanks for all the advice. I had put in the drain plug and changed the filter @ 50K and then serviced it last at 90K so it was due for a change. I usually do 50 - 40 - 30 filter swaps and then every 20K. My Bronco II tranny went 160K before it died and I tend to drive hard. The tranny shop said he rarely saw that tranny last much beyond 120 (said it was a glorified pinto tranny). I change the filter and fluid today thinking it might have be restrictive. I really have only about 10 miles on it after that so I really didn't push it. The fluid wasn't horrible and still relatively clean (I have seen worse) and didn't have that puked stank to it. I will get to the shop ASAP if it slips again and read the code.



I guess the question I have is with the solenoid fix is it just buying time for the clutch pack? Given 120K allready on the rest of it will $900 be well spent b/c if it only gets me another year (30K). I would rather bite the bullet and get several years of peice of mind. I need it to to tow a boat (3500lbs) about 30 miles (non-highway) each weekend starting in april. I would hate to see a nice weekend go by waiting on it - or worse yet - puking on the boat ramp.



Last thoughts would be to trade it in on a newer full sized crew cab short bed before I have to spend my weekends with a high mileage ST. Except for normal maintenance i have not had to put in any money into my ST except when the computer died @ 6,000 miles(warranty).



Thanks for the thoughts and insites. I will let you know how i make out.

 

[Richard L]

If you install a drain plug then you do not intend to change your transmission filter when you change the fluid, so I would not bother with the drain plug, and just get a tranny flush every 20K-25k miles. I would also change to a 100% fully synthetic Mercon-V compatible fluid rather than use the conventional semi-synthetic Mercon-V



My objection to just changing the fluid is, you are only changing about 40%-50% of your fluid. Even if you change 4 quarts every oil change, most of the fluid is still dirty. If you drain and add another 4 qauarts after about 5000 miles you are draining out about half the fluid and half of that was only changed 5000 miles ago.



A tranny flush will remove and replace about 98% of the fluid in the transmission, torque converter, cooler and lines. It only requires 10 quarts of fluid. If you drain and add 4 quarts of fluid every 3000-5000 miles it will require you to buy 20+ quarts of fluid and most of the cost of a tranny flush is the cost of the fluid. If you use 100% syntheti fluid, it will be more expensive than the semi-synthetic.



If you get a tranny flush do not accept or allow anyone to put any cleaners or seal retorers in your transmission during the flush. It is too expensive and not needed. The best flush only replaces the old fluid with fresh fluid using the transmissions internal pump pressure. So for every drop of old fluid pumped out, a drop of fresh fluid is pumped in.



...Rich